Wacken Open Air Crowd Honors Lemmy Kilmister With Sing-Along to Motorhead’s Cover of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’

Wacken Open Air is in the books for 2017, but not without one very memorable closing moment to the festival. Motorhead were constants at the German festival, and with the death of Lemmy Kilmister, organizers have continued to honor the musician's memory. At this year's event, they served up Motorhead's new cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" recorded before Lemmy's death, with the crowd joining in a triumphant and emotional sing-along.

Shortly after Alice Cooper's set concluded, one of the festival organizers, Thomas Jensen, came out onstage to speak with the crowd. "There can't be a Wacken without Lemmy," he explained, before revealing that this year's tribute would feature the video for "Heroes." "Let's make it so that he can hear us while we're singing it. Do us a favor and raise your fists and voice for the great Lemmy," he asked of the crowd, also announcing that "Heroes" would be the anthem for Wacken Open Air 2018.

Before the beginning of the song, chants of "Lemmy, Lemmy, Lemmy" emerged from the endless sea of fans surrounding the main stage. As the song started, sounds of a slot machine rang out with the pull back to feature Lemmy sitting at his favorite game eliciting a large response. As the song starts, fists are raised to the sky with the audience initially a little slow in joining in, but eventually building to a booming and powerful sing-along. Watch the tribute in full in the player above.

"This is fn awesome," tweeted Slash after seeing the amazing crowd response at the event. It was truly a powerful salute to the iconic Motorhead leader and one that will leave a lasting memory from Wacken 2017.

The studio version of "Heroes" can be heard on Motorhead's upcoming Under Cover album, which is due out Sept. 1. Pre-order details can be found here.